An Awkward Family Dinner
by NerdGirlHappy
Summary: Third in my NYC, Rivalry, Dances and Second Chances Series. When Cassandra, Shelby, Rachel and Brody have dinner together, who knows what can happen. Throw in Toddler Beth and a little blackmail, and this night just got interesting.


**A/N: Here we go. Another one. I actually kind of like this one. The only thing is is that Cass may or may not be just a little OOC. Then again we don't really know much about her so I don't think we can give her OOCness. I'm a little pissed off though because there aren't any links to Episode Three so I haven't been able to watch it yet. Sometimes I hate living in Australia. Oh well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.**

**Part Three of NYC, Rivalry, Dances and Second Chances.**

Oh! I was also told that it'd be better to put all of these under one story titled ^... Instead of separate individual ones. The thing is, is that sometimes when I put one-shot's up, despite the fact these don't feel like one-shots, and they're all under one story, I don't get them finished. So that's why they're separate. Also... I like the idea of having different Cover Photos. Even though the only difference in the photo's are the subtitles. :)

**Anyway. Hope you like it. Enjoy.**

**An Awkward Family Dinner**

Cass was sitting on Shelby's couch, a glass of red wine in one hand, the bottle on the table in front of her, as she watched Shelby chase Beth passed the living room and down the hall. She snorted as Shelby knocked her elbow against the corner of the wall, swearing under her breath before calling out for her daughter.

Cass had been there for almost two hours now, catching up with Shelby and trading stories on teaching students. Beth had woken up just ten minutes ago, deciding to frazzle her mother by running around the apartment. _She hasn't even had any sugar!_

Shelby collapsed on the seat beside her, taking her glass of wine and gulping a mouthful, handing it back to her without a word.

"See… This is why I didn't have kids."

Shelby turned her head, scoffing and glaring at her simultaneously.

"Yes. This is why you didn't have kids. It had nothing to do with your lack of maternal instincts, lack of a committed relationship, or lack of emotions that aren't contempt, annoyance or jealousy."

Cass frowned, watching Beth run passed dragging a box, sitting on the carpet in front of them.

"Jealousy? I don't get jealous."

Shelby scoffed, her eyes trained on the almost three year old toddler.

"Please, Cass. I know you better than that."

Cassie rolled her eyes, pulling her legs up under her and turning her body to face Shelby.

"So… When's Schwimmer getting here?"

Shelby turned her head to glare at her friend, taking the glass out of her hand and picking up the bottle, standing to walk around the couch towards the kitchen area behind them.

"Would you stop calling her that? And I don't know. She said after class. I assumed that meant your one because she muttered something under her breath about a 'bitch', but clearly I was wrong on that one."

Cass frowned, resting her arms on the back of the couch as she watched Shelby pull food down from the cupboards.

"Some other bitch teacher's giving her a hard time other than me? That is not alright. Ohio's mine to piss off."

Shelby shot her a look, a cross between stop-being-a-bitch-to-my-daughter and you're-never-going-to-change-are-you?.

"I don't know. I mean, we've texted each other a couple of times, and I've talked to her on the phone maybe, twice in the last three weeks. It's still a little… awkward."

Beth tugged on Cass's arm, holding up a stuffed dog.

"Cass play with me?"

Cass grimaced, hoping it resembled a smile somewhat.

"Alright kid."

She slid from the chair, calling over her shoulder to Shelby, who was out of sight, as she picked up the toys.

"So what? This is your first dinner together? As like, a family or something?"

Shelby nodded, turning and startling when she realized Cass couldn't be seen, nor could she see her.

"Uh, yeah. I guess it is."

Cass pulled a face at Beth, sticking out her tongue and winking at the little girl.

"I am going to teach you so many things, Little Blondie." She whispered under her breath, looking over her shoulder and replying to Shelby in a louder voice. "So why am I here?"

"Rachel and I, well really it was Rachel, decided that it would be more comfortable if we had someone else here."

Cass snorted again, rolling her eyes as she pretended to walk to dog over to Beth's cat.

"And having her dance teacher who is an absolute bitch to her is going to make her more comfortable?"

Shelby pulled down some plates, standing on her toes to grin at the sight on the floor. Beth was meowing at the stuffed animal in Cassandra's hand.

"Well, you're here for me. She's bringing some guy."

Cass stood up, turning as she picked Beth up in her arms.

"Brody?"

Shelby nodded, opening the fridge to pull out the salad.

"Yeah. Was he the guy that came in with Rachel in the studio?"

Cass nodded, a scary smirk stretching over her face.

"Oh, this is great. Ammo."

Shelby rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to speak when the doorbell went off.

"Leave them alone Cass. I don't want you to… scare Rachel off, okay?" She said, backing her way to the door.

Cass held up her free hand, shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay, okay… I'll put the bitch away."

As Shelby approached the door, Cass glanced down at the toddler in her arms.

"Only for a while, right Blondie?"

Beth laughed, clapping her hands and nodding.

"Rach here?"

Cass sighed, nodding her head.

"Rach here… "

Beth reached up, grabbing Cass's nose and wiggling it back and forth. Cass narrowed her eyes at the girl, before crossing her eyes and scrunching up her nose. A camera click distracted her, the both of them turning to the doorway where Brody stood with his phone held up. Cass glared at him, putting the toddler in her chair and stepping closer to the younger boy.

"Delete it."

Brody smirked, shaking his head as he typed something on his phone.

"Nope. I think this would be a great photo to show the guy in class when you get real bitchy, don't you?"

Cassie growled as Rachel and Shelby appeared at Brody's side.

"What will?"

Brody grinned, turning his phone to show Rachel. Rachel grinned, attempting to hide her laughter as she pointed at the photo.

"Send me that."

Brody grinned back down at her, nodding and quickly pulling it up in a message. Cass glared at Shelby, waving at the two students grinning at the photo.

"This is your fault. Now how am I going to scare my students?"

Shelby smirked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Not my fault you're starting to grow a heart."

Cass glared at all three of them, turning to Beth and muttering to herself.

_Knew this was a bad idea!_

The dinner was… quiet, at the beginning. Brody kept sneaking glances at Rachel, while Rachel did the same to Shelby and Beth. Beth played with her food, earning her a scolding from Shelby, and Cassandra watched all four of them over the rim of yet another glass of wine.

"Alright… I've had it. If I wanted to have an awkward family dinner, I would have visited my parents."

Brody looked down at his plate, laughing softly while Shelby and Rachel turned and looked up at Cass, the same expression of shock on their face. _That's sorta creepy._

"Cass!"

Rachel shook her head, waving her hand at Shelby.

"No, she's right." Rachel said, looking at Rachel.

"For once"

Cass glared at Brody as he muttered under his breath.

"We should… talk or… something."

The table fell silent again until Beth looked up, pointing at Rachel.

"Pretty necklace!"

The other three looked at Rachel's neck, Brody looking down immediately, Shelby raising an eyebrow, and Cass frowning.

"Who the hell is Finn?"

The locket was gold and engraved, clasped around her neck loosely.

"He's my… He's my boyfriend kind of fiancé."

Cass looked at Shelby, then Brody, and then back to Rachel.

"I thought you and Weston were doing the nasty, so to speak."

Shelby glared at Cass, scolding her like she had Beth. Brody stabbed at his dinner softly, while Rachel blushed.

"Uhm… No."

Shelby glanced at Rachel, exchanging a want-to-talk? look. Rachel smiled, shrugging her shoulders and returning to her food. She twirled her fork in her hand, before lying it down at the side of her plate as she picked up her glass.

"You know… If you could pirouette like you spin a fork, I may actually see some potential."

Dinner after that was lighter. Cass continued to insult Rachel, Brody made eyes at the girl sitting next to him and pulled faces at the toddler across from him, Shelby changed from glaring at Cass every time she commented on Rachel and listening intently to Rachel as she talked. She hadn't spent much time actually with Rachel to get to know her before she walked away. Hearing about her eldest daughter was like crack to an addict. She couldn't get enough.

Rachel and Brody stayed for about an hour after dinner, sitting on the floor and playing with Beth while they talked with the two older women. Well… Shelby talked. Cass sipped her wine and watched.

Shelby also took pictures. Some were posed. Others were taken without the two kid's knowledge. Shelby always smirked at Cass when she managed to sneak a photo on her phone held in her lap. Cass always rolled her eyes.

They left a little after ten, citing classes in the morning. Rachel glanced at Cassie, indicating she had her first thing before standing in front of Shelby. They looked at each other for a few moments before Rachel murmured 'What the hell' and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Shelby's neck.

Shelby was grinning for the rest of the night. Cass looked at Beth, the little girl making a strange face at her mother as Shelby practically bounced around the room. As Cass was leaving, she tapped Beth on the nose and hugged Shelby, whispering in to her ear.

"Maybe she's not as bad as I thought." She pulled back, grinning at her and winked. "I'm still going to be a bitch, but hey, at least she's got you to complain to."

Shelby smiled, pushing her out the door with a 'Goodnight' and collapsed in to bed after putting Beth to sleep. Her phone vibrated beside her bed. She rolled over onto her stomach, picking up her phone and sliding it open.

_I had a great time. Coffee Sunday?_

Shelby smiled, burrowing herself under the covers with her eyes slowly dropping.

_I did to :) Sounds good. _

She was just about to fall asleep when the buzzing snapped her awake again. She would have been annoyed, if it hadn't been for the text back.

_Goodnight xoxo_

__**A/N: There we go. Hope you liked it. Reviews would be awesome. I'm going to work on maybe a Rachel/Beth focused story next. Or possibly a Cassandra/Rachel focused one. Laters.**


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